Tag Archives: industrial sewing machine

Today marks a ginormous step in my life. Three weeks short of 22 years as a public servant, from today I am, by choice, self-employed. (Well I did hint at changes that were coming!)

The last couple of years have been particularly challenging at work and at home. One challenge on its own would have been fine, but being challenged on both fronts left little room for respite – which is how I came to be in the state I was at the end of last year. With amazing support from my employer I have been able to take leave for the first half of this year, to rest, recover, and think about how I want to live my life. Having green fields in front of me has been an uplifting experience – I have sorted through so many different possibilities in my mind (sea-change, tree-change, runaway-from-it-all-change) and am very happy that I have settled on the right path for the chicks and I. I am going to spend my time focussed on my family, on building my creative business, on supporting other creative people to reach their potential, and on living life in a meaningful way.

And that, my friends, is why I died my hair blue! That outward expression of claiming my life as my own was a small step towards looking at how I want to live, who I want to be, and how I want to grow. The sense of freedom is immense! My biggest fear is I will get into a habit of slacking off and playing instead of working – but I suspect that my bank account will motivate me to get over any tendencies in that area!

The first step is getting past this weekend successfully. It is the second Handmade Market for the year, and I am working very hard to prepare new stock so that I can have some wonderful selections on offer. The new sewing machine has been in overdrive! It arrived last week, and after a bit of learning, tinkering, adjusting, etc I am getting the hang of it! I will write more next week to give you all the details and do it justice, but for now – some shots of the arrival and set up!

Two very big and very heavy boxes!

I did it! (All by myself!)

I have also been able to use my new teether bits as a result of the new machine. I am very happy with the way they look, feel, and handle – so will be launching them at the markets this weekend! I had a bit of a production line (manned by my staff of one – me) yesterday so have a good range of colours and patterns to showcase the new bits!

It also sews leather and denim beautifully so I am working on executing some of the ideas that I have been carrying around for a very long time in my head!

This bag is made from supersoft leather, with the fabric detailed flap. Sewing the leather was a dream with the new machine!

Other exciting news in this very brief summary of an amazing week, is that the launch of the Human Brochure that I spoke about last week was extremely successful. Since then we have attended a number of delightfully wonderful discovery events and started to get to know each other – and really I cannot imagine a nicer bunch of people to be hanging out with! I will write more in the next week about the events so far as I want to do them justice. At the moment I can happily report that I have a huge crush on a part of Canberra called New Acton, have had my eyes opened to so many, many, many wonderful things in my own town, and am learning on a daily basis! If you are interested in seeing what we have been up to have a look at the Human Brochure website where you will see so many beautiful photos from my fellow humans you will want to visit here straight away!

Phew – this might be the shortest summary of the most exciting week I will ever write – but the sewing room is calling me, and the Market countdown is on….so stay tuned for more updates! (and if you are on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, following @alittlebirdmademe is a great way to see quick snapshots of what is happening during this exciting time!!)

I hope that you have had a great week, and that you are also finding little bits in your life to give you joy and excitement. Just remember – today is the first day of the rest of your life too. Get out there and embrace it.

Are you your own worst critic? I know I am. I can immediately list all the things that I have done wrong, could have done better, should have done better, should have known better, but I have to stop and think before I can list what has gone well. You may have noticed in my posts that I try to talk about the good things that have happened. This is my personal training ground to focus on the good and put the not-so-good into perspective.

With that in mind let me share what I have achieved in the last few days! I sat down on Saturday and made 5 and 3/4 handbags (the last quarter had to wait until the next day when I realised, late at night, that I had made a small error that required a lot of unpicking to rectify). And I am proud of them!

One of them sold that night, so I made a another one from the same fabric the next day, and finished off the one that I hadn’t completed on Saturday. So in one weekend I made 7 handbags.

Then I sewed up 14 bibs, without their snaps and chews. I was kicking goals for those two days! I even managed to do a load of laundry, undertake yet another (futile) search for missing items of clothing for the chicks, take the dog for a walk over to drop some things off to the chicks at their father’s house, and to talk to my Mum for over an hour on the phone.

On Monday morning I zipped around cleaning the house in readiness for a mentoring workshop. (I will come back to that in a minute). Over the noise of the vacuum cleaner I heard the dog going berserk and opened the door to find a courier delivering a large box from China. My teething chews arrived!

The colours are delightful and just as I ordered them, the quality is great and the sight of them had me dancing around the house (which meant that it wasn’t particularly pristine for my mentoring session but it wasn’t the end of the world!)

The mentoring session was fantastic. (Yes, yes I will get to that in a minute.) I felt inspired, energised and ready to tackle my own business when we finished. And then….I tried sewing my new teething pieces onto my bibs. Slump. Big time. The improved quality and flexibility means that, even after a lot of research and tension, needle and thread adjustment, my domestic machine can’t cope with them. (The samples were okay to sew but I increased the thickness in order to provide a better quality…….without realising that this would impact the ability of my machine to sew through them. Obvious now of course.) Determined not to feel like a complete failure I drove across town to collect my good old workhorse Bernina that has been in for a long overdue service. And discovered that the shop that was servicing it sells Industrial machines. I have been researching them online for a while so took the opportunity to pick the brain of the shopkeeper. Then I went back this morning with samples of leather, denim, bamboo, the silicone teethers, etc and tested them out. What a difference!!!!! The stitches through the teether looked perfect – and doubling over my thickest leather wasn’t a problem for the machine. I am hooked! But this particular shop has only just started stocking industrial machines, hasn’t built or set them up properly, doesn’t have a lot of options or choices, and they are quite expensive. So…. back to the computer, more research, phone calls, searching, tagging, searching……. My head hurts! I finished off the new bibs with some of the original stock of teethers, and will have to hold off on launching the new teethers until I acquire an appropriate machine. I have a solution, but it has exhausted me in the process!

The mentoring? I told you I would get back to it! As part of my reflection on what I have to offer, what strengths I have, and what excites me, while assessing how I want to live my life, and find that balance with the needs of my chicks, I realised that all the growth I have experienced over the last couple of years with starting and building my business, and researching every step of the way to the nth degree means that I have a large body of knowledge to share! And I get really animated and excited when I get to share it with other people! (My years of being a lawyer, manager, leader, etc don’t hurt either!)

Because I am working on quelling that inner critic it took me a while to form a firm plan, but the plan is taking shape, the inner voice is being told to pipe down, and I have started to offer my services as a mentor for other creative people in business. I have held a couple of group sessions that have gone really well, and have more planned. I have come away feeling energised just from the community that exists in a group of craftspeople and artists. I am excited to see where each of these women will grow their business to, as their ideas and talents are inspiring. At this stage I have only offered the sessions to a small group of people I know, while I assess structures, venues, approaches etc, but over the next few weeks I hope to launch this as a service that can be utilized by people in my local area, but also people anywhere in the world, through the wonders of Skype! My feedback so far has been positive, and useful, but I am taking my time and not rushing in to oversell what I have to offer, and not undersell the value that I can add! Another exercise in taming the inner critic is underway!

Other lessons so far this week include that taking a fresh look at branding and marketing my business is useful. A reminder from the lovely ladies at Shop Handmade (where I sell my bibs and bags here in Canberra) about packaging saw me re-evaluating what I like in a product and looking at my products from that perspective. Today I spent some time designing a new package for the bibs. They will now be packaged in a clear bag (that can be resealed if customers want to open it to feel the fabric) with a sticker on the front telling them who made it, and an insert inside with the care details and the story of the bib (you know – where it was made, what music was playing, etc!) I am not sure if this is the final design for the packaging, because everything is evolving, but for now I am happy to put them on display in the Shop!

After a few days of highs, and then lows, I think that tomorrow is a day for even-ness. Hmmmm…. lets see how that plan goes!

the little bird

Welcome to a little bird made me! I am Theresa, the little bird who makes things. My other labels include mother of three, owner of dogs, sheep and chickens, grower of plants, autism parent, hoarder of fabric and yarn, retired lawyer, maker of all sorts of things that take my fancy, lover of a good gin and tonic, and tea addict. I am based in rural New South Wales, Australia.

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What a glorious Sunday morning we have! I am bustling around finishing sewing a new batch of reusable tea bags, cleaning my house and preparing for a road trip this afternoon and I am sure all my energy is coming from the lovely weather!

I have just had a revelation that my road trip today and tomorrow is an opportunity to check out some new Op Shops so I am very excited! My collection of vintage cups and saucers and teapots is growing all the time but I just can’t miss a chance like this!

A summary of news in photo form - I finished the Rose Garden cosy, am in love with this vintage teacup trio and hope to find more, and am loving the fact that my reusable teabags are walking out the door at the moment! ... See MoreSee Less

This week has been a whirl of the return to school, interviewing for schools, and finding our old routine. In between I have been busy with all sorts of little pieces of making but with three different ‘works in progress ‘ I need to push on and have some finishes today! This tea cosy is still a work in progress as I still don’t have the final vision clear in my mind. Definitely a case of design as you go! Perhaps a few more roses..... ... See MoreSee Less

Okay, last week's post about being accepted to have my products in store at in.cube8r Gallery and Emporium was pretty big. But I may be topping it this week with the announcement of plans to be represented in not one but two more shops, and two more States along with it! First things first - my box of goodies is in transit to Melbourne today, and should arrive in time for the stocking of my products on 1 February. [ 1,164 more word ]

Yesterday I sent a box full of quirky tea paraphernalia (aka the stuff I make) off to take up residence at the in.cube8r gallery in Fitzroy where it will be available from 1 February. It includes earrings like these, reusable tea bags, tea infusers, tea cosies and a few other bits and bobs, so if you are in Melbourne do pop along and have a look! And if you are in Melbourne and want a custom order made up send me a message and I can arrange for you to collect it from the shop. 2018 is off to a great start! ... See MoreSee Less

Well, I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and entered a tea cosy or two in the Professional category of Handicrafts at the Bungendore Show (even though I don’t feel very professional!) and my cactus tea cosy received a Highly Commended certificate so it wasn’t a complete disaster! ... See MoreSee Less